Newspapers / The Carolina Union Farmer … / Feb. 20, 1913, edition 1 / Page 3
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Thursday, February 20, 1913.] THE CAROLINA XTNION FARMER Rage Three Developing the Herd G. A. Dimmick, of Maplecrest Farm, Waukesha County, Wis. The successful breeder must have a clear and concise conception of the type he wishes to establish and with his ideal constantly in mind must cheerfully give unlimited time and thought to the characteristics of the animais he wishes to produce. He should have a clear understanding of the “scale of points” or characteris tics that go to make up the perfect animal. He should not only be a care ful and impartial critic of his own herd but should also take advantage of every possible opportunity to study the greatest individuals of the breed. He must be a man of courage and strong convictions, but big enough to admit the possibiiity of mistakes when made. He must be a close ob server and a careful student of cause and effect. He must be steadfast in his purposes and not seek one ideal to-day and another to-morrow. Over and above all else he must enter into the spirit of the game with an earn estness and enthusiasm that will make the work a matter of joy and pleasure rather than of labor. Having mentioned these few quali fications which we believe every suc cessful breeder must possess, we will next consider in what seems to us to to be their logical order, the means to be pursued in the successful de velopment of the herd. In this dis cussion we wili confine ourselves to the subjects that seem to us of the utmost importance, or in other words, to the things we believe every man must consider who wishes to realize any degree of success in the develop ment of his herd. The Sire That Heads the Herd. With a herd to develop, we believe the first and most important subject to consider is the sire to head the herd. In some things we may make mistakes and stiii reap a moderate degree of success, but if we make a mistake in the choice of a sire we are sure to go backwards instead of for wards and thus lose an opportunity for the betterment of the herd. When we remember that the sire that is mated with a given number of fe- mlaes has as much to do with the character and value of the offspring as all the females combined, we can weli understand that “the sire is half the herd.” If the sire is more strongly bred than the females, he is apt to be more prepotent and therefore has more influence in de termining the characteristics of the next generation than all of the fe males combined. Each weii chosen sire that is mated w'ith a herd should give at least fifty per cent of his character to the next generation so that the direct descendants of the fourth sire used in succession retains only a little over six per cent of the original blood, and nearly ninety- four per cent of the blood of that generation is of our own chosing. When we are thus abie to transform the character of the herd in such a short time, the great importance of a proper choice of sires cannot be over estimated. If poor udders, sioping rumps, lack of butter-fat, or any other given defects exist, a sire that is subject to the same defects will make those defects more marked, but by a wise choice of sires these de fects may be remedied. Professor Eckles of the Missouri Agricultural College, in comparing the daughters of two sires that were used in the same herd, wrote as fol lows: “Counting the milk at $1.50 per hundredweight; the income from thirty daughters of Lome of Meridale would exceed that from the same number of daughters of Missouri Rioter of $6,467 in six years.” In this statement. Professor Eckles does not take into consideration the great dif ference in the value of the stock but simply considers the milk at $1.50 per hundredweight. Six years is a very short period for the average life of a cow and in a reasonably large herd a good sire should produce at least thirty daughters each year, so we believe it is perfectly fair to con sider $6,467 as the yearly difference in the earning ability of the two sires. During the past year, Mr. M. H. Gard ner, our Superintendent of Advanced Registry, has given us the benefit of his early experience in the choice of sires, and the dairy papers of the country and the agricultural depart ments of the various States are con tinually urging the importance of us ing better sires. A good sire is a paying investment at almost any price, but a poor one is worse than an absolute loss even though his cost is nothing. With these facts in mind, the successful breeder will earnestly strive to have each sire that comes into his herd better than the preced ing ones, and if he succeeds in this, he must move forward in the devel opment of the breed. Developing the Young Stock. Among the other things to be con sidered is the proper development of the young stock. Good breeding will do much, but it cannot do everything and the man who wishes to see his herd improve year by year must give very careful attention to the develop ment of the calves. Much might be said on this subject, but we will only touch on a few of the most important features. As a rule, the first feed of the new-born calf should be from the mother’s milk, being careful that the calf does not over-eat. The young calf should be fed three or four times per day, receiving only about two pounds of milk at a feed if fed four times per day. The milk should al ways be at blood heat and fed from absolutely clean pails. If the pails can be scalded at each feed so much the better. Regularity in feeding is as necessary as cleanliness. At all times the calf should have a clean, dry bed and plenty of good, pure wa ter. As soon as the calf is old enough we would keep good hay with in his reach, and believe that a mix ture of bran and oats with perhaps a little charcoal makes a very desir able grain mixture. They should also have salt within their reach. The milk should always be sweet and the change from whole milk to skimmed milk should be made very gradually. We believe that the milk as fed should be carefully weighed so that the ration may be gradually and care fully increased. We believe that most of the difficulty in raising calves is due to carelessness rather than to lack of knowledge. When the calves have reached the age at which they can consume a reasonable amount of grain, we believe in giving them a good generous ration made up of feed that will have a tendency to produce bone and muscle rather than fat. Next to an abundance of good feed we believe in plenty of sunshine and fresh air. This is something that they should have at all times and under all circumstances. With double glazed sash and the King system of ventila tion properly installed, an abundance of sunshine and fresh air may be had without making the building too cold. Damp and filthy stables should not be tolerated. We do not believe that it is wise to have the heifers freshen at a very young age, but prefer to give them a reasonable chance for de velopment before they are called up on to take on the burdens of mother hood. In the care of the herd and the de velopment of the young animals, con stant watchfulness must go hand-in- hand with a thorough understanding of the business and the successful breeder must be a man who believes in doing things to-day, not to-mor row. He must give close personal at tention to all details pertaining to the herd and must be thoroughly in love with his work as has been the great breeders of the past. Sometimes the hours of labor are many and nothing but an intense love of the work and a great pride in the results accom plished will give to the weary mus cles power to go on and complete his work, but he must feel a personal in terest in each member of the herd, and should look upon them with a feeling much nearer akin' to love than he could possibly feel for a mere machine. I know of nothing that would give better returns in the care of the cow than gentleness and kindness, and I have sometimes thought that it was fortunate that every act of neglect and cruelty car ries its own punishment with it. The unfailing laws of nature are such that no man can abuse the animals that are within his care without pay ing the penalty, for the highest de grees of success and profit never go hand-in-hand with neglect and cru elty. Good Goods, Good Money. It has been said in substance that if a man could produce a better mouse trap than any one else that the world would make a beaten path to his door, and if a man can only produce a little better stock than any one, else the world will come to him. One of the richest men in Scotland on being complimented on his magnifi cent fortune replied: “I never tried to make a shilling. But I did try to make the finest goods in all the King dom and the money made itself.” To a very great extent this thought ap plies to many of the transactions of this life and often the man who re ceives the largest, financial returns is the one who really thinks least of the dollars to be had. I suppose that none of us can afford to be indifferent to the profit to be derived from our herds, but I am sure that the man who is not blinded by the glitter of the almighty dollar but who loves his work and seeks success for the sake of succeeding, will in the long run reap the richest harvest. If a person wishes to establish a great herd that will take a promi nent place among the great herds of the world and hold that place year after year, I believe that it is imper ative that he should keep the best so far as is permitted ■ by the proper mating of his animals. With a large herd many fine animals must be of fered for sale, but I believe that we should not be tempted to part with the best we have by an unusually large offer. By this I mean that the price alone should not tempt us, and that in making sales we should con sider the future of our herd as of more Importance than mere dollars and cents. This course will, I am sure, result not only in a great herd but also in great profit. No man can be associated with a pure-bred herd very long without meeting with losses and discourage ments so that courage and persever ance are among the necessary qualifi cations of a successful breeder. It does not require very much ability to begin a certain task, but the real test of character is in our ability to hold on until the finishing blow is struck. We must know and acknowledge no such word as failure, but when the difficulties arise, as they surely will, stand by the guns until the victory is won. Baron Rothschild has been quoted as having said that if the pub lic should lose faith in his integrity for the short period of twenty-four hours that he would be bankrupt. This shows how far-reaching and vi tal is the faith we have in one an other. The members of a herd may be great and they may have great records, but if the owner of the herd is lacking in honor and integrity much of their value is lost. If, on the other hand, great cows and great records are associated with an owner whose word is as good as his bond and whose character is beyond sus picion, we have the ideal combination in which the value of the stock is very materially increased by the rep utation of the owner. With animals that are well bred and carefully reared, we come to one of the most important, if not the most important, elements in the successful development of a herd. I refer to of ficial and semi-official tests. Before the tests are made we have the raw material. It may be of great intrin sic value, but just what that value is no one can say until it has receiv ed the official stamp of Superintend ent Gardner. With the help of the scales and the Babcock test he is able to measure the capacity of our cows and tell us as near as human skill can determine just what they can pro duce. They come to him in the rough and as an unfinished product. He classifies them according to their ability to produce, and his official stamp of recognition gives them a de finite rank and to a large extent a definite value. The making of official and semi-official tests is so thorough ly hedged in by every possible safe guard and precaution to insure a fair and honest deal to all that no one can doubt the reliability of the tests made. Comparison is the great criterion of the commercial world and through it men are able to choose the best of whatever they buy in the markets of the world. By the aid of official and semi-official records we are able to compare the merits of our cows with a degree of accuracy entirely unknown prior to the use of these tests. It is true that the conforma tion of the animal must be taken into consideration, but with the individu ality and record combined, few mis takes should occur. Look for the Pure Gold. In our opinion, the breeder of Hol- stein-Friesian cattle who does not take advantage of the benefits to be derived from the official and semi official tests is making the mistake of a life-time. I believe that such breeders are continually throwing ore that is nearly all pure gold onto the dump pile. Now and then they have the satisfaction of seeing some one make a small fortune from the material that has passed unappreciat ed through their hands, but how much greater would have been the benefits if they could have made the records themselves. A large record not only adds greatly to the value of the animal that makes the record but its benefits extend several gener ations, both into the past as well as the future. These records are not only of great value in aiding us to decide on the most desirable combi nations of blood to make in breeding but they add value to our herds fast er and surer than anything else that we can do. A friend of ours who owns a high class automobile tells us that there is a strange fascination in driving a car that will plunge forward with such terriffic power and speed at a mere touch of the proper lever. No doubt he is right, but is there not a (Continued on page 16.) L
The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 20, 1913, edition 1
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